Johnnie Walker History

Originally known as Walker’s Kilmarnock Whisky, the Johnnie Walker brand is a legacy left by John “Johnnie” Walker after he started to sell whisky in his grocer’s shop in Ayrshire, Scotland. After Walker’s death in 1857 it was his son Alexander Walker and grandson Alexander Walker II who were largely responsible for establishing the Scotch as a popular brand

Johnnie Walker Trivia

Alexander Walker first introduced the iconic square bottle in 1870.

The product label is applied at an angle of 24 degrees which means the text on the label could be made larger and more visible

In 1908, when James Stevenson was the Managing Director, there was a re-branding of sorts. The whisky was renamed from Walker’s Kilmarnock Whiskies to Johnnie Walker Whisky.

In 1932, Alexander II added JW Swing to the line, the name originating from the unusual shape of the bottle, which allowed it to rock back and forth.

The company joined Distillers Company in 1925. Distillers was acquired by Guinness in 1986, and Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan to form Diageo in 1997.

In 2009 the advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty created a new short film, starring Robert Carlyle and called The Man Who Walked Around the World, which outlined the history of the brand.

Diageo has created “The Striding Man Society” which is a members club for JW drinkers

The Striding Man logo was created in 1908 by an illustrator named Tom Browne to be a likeness of John Walker in traditional attire. In the logo, the man is walking forward, which Diageo says symbolises forward thinking and the pursuit of excellence

Johnnie Walker Red Label was the favorite Scotch of Winston Churchill, who mixed it with soda.